Public and Commercial Services Union

 

This conference notes the unfair decision making process and time scales for medical retirement. The process itself leads to many members suffering financial hardship waiting for decisions both at the initial application and the appeals stage.

 

Increasingly this is getting harder to obtain for members in some cases members have been told they may experience a spontaneous recovery even though medical opinion states they have a degenerative condition and have over a 90% chance they will never recover.

 

What is the point in a medical diagnosis if the powers that be then choose to ignore it?

 

We can also presume either there is a concerted effort to try and prevent as many members as possible for getting medical retirement or the Civil service is in touch with heavenly body’s and expects the healing hand of god to intervene.

 

Given our aging population this is an issue which will increasingly affect our members and is of great concern to both reps who have dealt with this and the members themselves.

 

This conference calls on the NEC to begin immediate negotiations to rectify this situation for our members:

 

·       To negotiate a more transparent policy

·       To negotiate a clear policy that follows Medical advice

·       To negotiate a structure that does not lead to financial hardship while this process takes place

·       To push for a procedure that is shorter and fairer for the members

 

This conference believes that the Civil Service Fast Stream process is divisive and elitist. This scheme provides a fast track into government departments for the chosen few at the expense of others. It has succeeded in maintaining the white middle class domination of the Senior Civil service and restricting access to working class candidates.

 

Not only does the scheme recruit on divisive lines by requiring academic qualifications and then assessment centres, but once in departments candidates are afforded preferential treatment. This comes in the form of higher salaries on the HEO(D) range and advantageous career moves orchestrated by departmental human resource teams.

 

This conference therefore instructs the NEC to use its resources to argue for the scrapping of the Fast Stream process.

 

Conference recognises the importance of organisations such as Carers UK, Crossroads for Carers and campaigns such as “Make WORK Work” calling on the government to introduce changes to health and social care services, the tax, benefits and pensions systems that help carers remain in work, return to work and in raising the awareness of the difficulties that carers face. Without these organisations campaigning for change, providing information and support, transforming the awareness of caring so that carers are valued and not discriminated against and mobilising supporters and carers to influence the decision makers, the whole issue of caring and its impact on carers would be ignored.

 

Carers save the economy £87billion per year, an average of £15,260 per carer, yet 1 in 5 carers is forced to give up work. Every year 2million people become carers and recent research shows that 3 out of 5 people will experience becoming a carer at some point. New research by Iposos MORI for Carers Rights Day on 4th December 2009 showed that the average carer in Britain cares for around 6 ½ years at an average of 27hrs per week. Many long term carers face continual ill health both physical and mental.

Consequently, the issue of working carers within the public sector must be vigorously pursued. This is especially important, considering the economic climate, office closures, attacks on conditions of service, proposed changes to the Civil Service Compensation Scheme, outsourcing and the employers’ firm approach to sickness absence.

 

Carers need protection as they can often feel vulnerable, ignored and isolated. Additionally, they often face financial hardship, difficulties in balancing work-life commitments and hence need extra consideration from the Employer.

 

Conference therefore instructs the NEC to negotiate a National Carers Strategy with the employer which includes the following:

 

·       Definition of a carer and what it entails being a carer,

·       The support provisions available to carers and support options available to their line managers

·       The Employer to recognise the importance of supporting carers to allow them to remain in the workplace and their commitment to setting the highest standards for carers working in the public sector.

·       The Employer to recognise the difficulties that long term carers face in terms of both physical and mental ill health and to take responsibility in addressing the underlying causes of absence

·       Supporting the physical and mental health and well being of carers, before the onset of sickness

 

Conference further instructs the NEC to publicise and fully support Carers Week 14 - 20 June 2010 when events will be held nationwide to highlight the contribution to society that carers make.

 

 

 

The lack of a coherent strategy in dealing with the recent bad weather has left the Union with the difficult task of negotiating a fair policy on adverse weather. There have been numerous examples of staff losing out on flexitime due to the bad weather. For example, some people have had to leave early to pick up small children from Nurseries which are having to close early.

 

In one case a father was forced to drive for 4 hours with his young child in the backseat, just to travel 10 miles from his workplace, a journey that would normally take only 30 minutes.

The management decided in cases like this to place a blanket ban on all requests for flexi if the reason was down to childcare arrangements. There were also numerous similar rejections for other requests. What this clearly demonstrates is a lack of understanding of the difficulties faced by working Parents and others during adverse weather conditions.

 

We are therefore seeking a fair policy across the board on adverse weather which will affect all Civil Servants. What we would like to see is a commitment to reimburse with flexi any staff member who is forced to leave work early or arrive in work late. In addition those staff that cannot get into work because of the weather should also be given their time back. It is important that no one loses out in any way due to the state of the weather.

 

Staff should also be told early on when they should leave the workplace. There are staff members who are reluctant to leave work for any reason; these are the people who should be told to go home for their own safety. It is therefore imperative that a clear unambiguous message is sent to all staff at the earliest opportunity telling them that the weather conditions mean they should leave immediately.

 

We believe the decision makers whose job it is to decide on granting flexi, should be at a higher level than as it is currently, or an office wide decision should be made. A lot of the confusion previously arose from line managers failing to decide in a reasonable timescale. If the decision was taken out of their hands and placed in the hands of a central decision maker there would be a more uniform approach.

 

Finally we would like to see an Adverse Weather Czar appointed. This would be a senior manager whose duties during times of bad weather would be to step in to ensure that decisions are made swiftly and all staff subsequently informed of those decisions, and that agreed policies are adhered followed.   Speed is of the utmost importance at times like this. This person would be provided with all the information necessary to make the right decision. We should bear in mind that a delay of just one hour in these circumstances could be enough to strand some people away from their homes for many hours.

 

This is the reason for changing the current adverse weather policy, we need a coherent, clear and fair policy that best provides safe measures for all staff, ensuring that they not only get home safely but are properly reimbursed for their time in all cases.

 

The NEC are instructed to negotiate clear, fair and consistent policies for adverse weather. 

Conference congratulates national PCS on the work in support of members in the Marine and Fisheries Agency(MFA) transferred to the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) in securing eligibility for vacancies in the Defra network and not just vacancies under the civil service gateway.

 

Conference instructs the national executive committee to campaign and work for all members in NDPBs to retain or regain eligibility for vacancies in their core departments.

 

 

This conference notes that the Civil Service protocols in place for the transfer of surplus staff between departments are not working effectively and that some departments and NDPDs seem to be creating a barrier to the transfer of staff using the disparity of terms and conditions across the civil service as an excuse.

 

Conference also notes that union reps have taken the initiative to negotiate transfers for staff where the transferring organisation and HR should be taking the lead.

 

Conference therefore instructs the NEC to:

 

·       Highlight to the Cabinet Office the difficulties being faced implementing the protocols

·       Campaign for more dedicated HR resource to negotiate transfers and ensure departments honour the agreement

·       Agree a policy across departments to overcome barriers created by disparities in pay and conditions by offering solutions such as dowry payments.

 

 

 

This conference notes the increasing number of appeals to the CSAB, in particular Attendance Management Dismissals and Attendance Management Compensation appeals.

 

Many of these staff are members who were dismissed due to absences caused by disabilities and that due to their disabilities they have mobility problems where attending an appeal board in London is difficult if not impossible.

 

Conference also notes that the substantial costs in travel and subsistence expenses for all four attendees for the appeal (the appellant, their representative and two management representatives) in London would be saved by having a Northern CSAB. 

 

This conference agrees to seek agreement for a Northern CSAB.

 

 

 

Conference notes that hard won negotiations with Central Government have been undermined, especially in respect of the recent national pay “agreement” by the conflicting demands of the employer in its various incarnations – namely, ministers, the Cabinet Office, the Treasury and the various Chief Executives. Conference takes the view that such labyrinthine arrangement for negotiations are wholly acceptable.

 

It is recalled, with bitterness and ire, that the Treasury Solicitor’s pay settlement, arising from the dispute of 2003/4 and agreed with the Cabinet Office, was hijacked by the Treasury in an act of industrial vandalism.

 

Conference urges the NEC to ensure that, as a pre-condition to any future central negotiations on pay and conditions of service, particularly where we are seeking to resolve disputes, the employer agrees to conduct those negotiations as, or represented by a single party, for example the Cabinet Office, that is fully empowered to negotiate on the issues concerned and to authorize agreements; and that any agreement reached with that party must be binding.

 

 

 

Conference notes the bonus inspired banking shambles and stark economic and social disarray that has resulted and solemnly salutes the public outrage led by organs of social justice, the Daily Mail and Daily Telegraph, in response to the perpetuation of the bonus culture in the private and public sector.

 

Despite continuous PCS opposition, performance pay continues to flourish and the Government has accentuated performance pay differentials rather than rein them in.

 

At the heart of the problem is the distribution of appraisal markings which, across the Civil Service, clearly discriminate in favour of more senior grades and against ethnic minorities, women, part-time workers and the disabled.

 

Conference therefore instructs the NEC to engage in negotiations to scrap the simplistic and pernicious box-markings/box-ticking appraisal systems across the Civil Service on the grounds that they operate contrary to the Government’s existing equality and diversity policies, as well as divide and de-motive staff; moreover that they encourage the short termist “quick fix” management thinking which damages not only the workplace but the very fabric of society; to replace such systems with written appraisals which address and reflect performance and development and do not serve to share out the crumbs of pay negotiations to those that need them least.